At 3:00am in the half-mile long, open air bus terminal were a few locals, us and about a dozen armed police. A couple english speaking men gave us help in where and how to buy tickets and board busses. I don't know how they knew we were foreigners unless it was the 6'1" blonde next to me giving it away.
We had the front 2 seats on the bus which was good for the extra leg room, but gave us an unobstructed view of bus operation. This bus was the biggest thing on the road. Beside the driver there was an assistant to leap off and block traffic at critical moments, whistle out the door at pedistrians, and fling all trash off the bus and on to the road side. The assistant also assisted the driver with his many cellphones. While traveling at 60-90 kph on narrow roads the driver maintained constant contact with the outside world via phone and texting. No teenage girl in the world had any higher plugin skills than our driver.
Our driver was also versed in police checkpoints. A couple he breezed through without stopping; however, at one he parked the bus and he and the assistant got off. Several police came aboard and started checking papers. Forget your mental image of police. In Panama police wear green military uniforms, ballistic vests and body armor on the outside of thier uniforms. Some carried Uzis. All seem to take their job very seriously.
If you have ever wondered what happens to old American school buses I can assure you that they are all in Panama. They may be sporting new paint jobs and hubcaps, but for short-hauls in a country where few have cars the American school bus is rapid transit. After our big bus dropped us in David we caught a "red devil" (former American school bus) to Boquete.
Our hostel
From our hostel window
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